Sasusaku drabbles
by Yusagi
Summary: A collection of Sasusaku themed drabbles, ranging from G to M (Character deaths and etc included)
1. Chapter 1

Konoha had been in such a collective rush recently. With the end of the war, the fierce competition over who would replace the council behind the hokage, and eventually the Lady Hokage packing up and leaving the village to keep an eye on the resurrected Jiraiya ("To make sure nothing falls off that can't be put back on" she'd said) that led to a brief yet heated debate over whether they were electing sixth or seventh hokage…

Well.

Everything just sort of blended together in an ecstatic rush. Behind the end of the war—and if she were completely honest with herself, maybe just an inch above it—the most important thing that stuck out in that blur was of course…_Sasuke came home_.

Things might have been hectic, stressful, and incredibly difficult to deal with all at once, but none of that really…all of that…she was perfectly…it was alright, because _Sasuke was home_.

_Finally_. Team Seven was _finally _back together the way they should be, and that made anything else bearable. At least…for now. Eventually things would normalize, as things do, and that would only be _somewhat _of a boost in rough times. For the moment, however, she could deal with just about anything short of more deaths.

It's funny how 'just about' could be so all-encompassing and…miss _so much_.

She was carrying a message from 'Narukage' (that was _not_ sticking no matter how many times he said it) to Sasuke…primarily because Naruto was buried in paperwork and she didn't mind dropping by at pretty much any excuse to see Sasuke.

It's not that she _didn't_ knock it's that she…didn't knock. But that was never a problem before! He'd just be reading or meditating and give her his characteristic huff (which she would translate into indifference, annoyance, or welcome through experience) and that would be it. Sh-she didn't _expect _him to…be…

She yelps in surprise—greeting completely forgotten in her shock—halts in place just a moment, and then quickly steps out of the house, slamming the door behind her.

She didn't bother to flee further—either he'd leave her be, or she had no chance of outmatching his speed and they'd have an awkward conversation no matter what—and instead took a few moments to lean back against the door and gather her composure again. Her face burned so strongly there was no question people would—_assume _certain things which weren't entirely wrong if she fled from his house like this.

But.

More importantly—

She'd caught Sasuke—Sasuke _actually_—He..

_Ohhh. _She was never going to be able to look him in the eye again. And then _Naruto_ would find out and _Ino_, and the whole village would start thinking that _they_…and how would they go on _missions_? She'd be forced to _think_ about whether, in the other room…No! Was she really becoming a _pervert_? There _had_ to be another—

"Sakur—"

She _shrieked_ and turned toward the voice, cheeks red, hands up, stumbling over an excuse—only to find an incredibly puzzled looking Sai, leaning slightly away from her now, the wariness in his expression no doubt a result of her shout (and possibly concern she might strike him).

"Is something wrong?"

She stared at him a moment or two, weighing options: attempt to speak to a presumably irate Sasuke? Continue to agonize over and complicate matters for herself?

Or….

Attempt to ignore it ever happened, and definitely do not stash away her brief glimpse (rather brief stare, but cut her a break!) of the impossible for a rainy day alone?

She grabbed Sai's arm and began purposefully hauling him away from the door with a fixed smile she suspected even he wouldn't buy. "Not all! Come on!"

"But I was here to fetch—"

"He's not home! Come on! Let's go get _ramen_!" She was fairly certain his silence was less acceptance of this than resignation, but that was alright.

He really should start locking his door, though. Conversations between Team Kakashi would _never again be comfortable _if Sai had been the one to walk in on him. Of that,she was certain.


	2. Chapter 2

She couldn't remember how long it'd been since the Akatsuki had vanished to—wherever. Somewhere between the moment of hearing the words '_he won_' and realizing what they might have meant, her memory seemed to blur away into nothing.

She knew she wasn't the only one running—dimly she knew Naruto was running somewhere next to here, and there may have been others—but it wasn't her concern. The only thing she could think of was making it in time: if she could only make it to the battlefield, there still might be time. This sort of thing was her true specialty, after all, all of her strength and her ability to take away lives were always second to her ability to preserve and save them.

If she could only make it there, she could save him.

_Not now, not when they were so close—_

Whatever used to stand in front of them was a great mass of ruins now, burnt and crumbled into upturned chunks of rock and Earth. It didn't really matter to her what it used to be or how it got this way—the battle no doubt—because it simply wasn't as important at the moment. It took her only a few bounds through the ruins to spot his form, lying next to one of the only standing walls left, crumpled on the ground.

"_Sasuke_!" She hadn't even really _decided _to scream, and the scream itself barely sounded like her own voice: yet the anguished shout must have been hers, because her throat felt raw and torn afterward, and no one else could have been there yet.

The moments between finding him and reaching him blurred into nothing, too.

It must have rained recently, due to the cool droplets still running down his skin…but he—he was still warm, and that meant…he…she could still _save him_. She _needed _to save him. When she took hold of his shoulder and turned him over she nearly recoiled—there was…_so much blood_. Not only that, but his previous position had concealed the terrible burns across his skin. He was nearly unrecognizable due to his damage, but…

No.

_No_.

_She could fix him._

Healing chakra poured from her hands into him, forcing gashes and wounds shut with pure willpower. If she could do that—she could replace the heat he'd lost, she could _make _his heart beat again.

She could…

She _should _be able to take her life and put it in _him_.

Through the buzz of chakra in her head she heard Naruto speaking, shouting, _screaming _words she couldn't be bothered to understand. Why couldn't she just—if she just kept on trying, if she turned all of her stamina, every ounce of her life energy into chakra and poured it into him—wouldn't that _work_? It was _her_ life, and they were _so close _to getting him back! It was _her life_, why couldn't she choose to trade it for whatever she _wanted_ _to_?

For a moment, she thought the rain returned, dropping onto her hands and fighting against her work to keep him warm, but—her breathing hitched and she realized suddenly it wasn't _rain_. When had she begun to sob? She couldn't remember it at all.

Someone grabbed her shoulders—not Naruto, Naruto knelt in front of her, hunched over the healed—still, empty—form of their comrade. _Someone _grabbed her shoulders, though, and pried her away. For a few moments she struggled, lashing out—shrieking at her captor _if she could only try a little harder she could save him!_

Other arms encircled hers, keeping her firmly held away from Sasuke's body, arms pinned and useless to save him. Had her chakra points been blocked, or had she simply forgotten how to summon her strength? Either was possible in her state, in her single-minded _need _to use it all on _healing him _instead.

_He's gone_, someone said in her ear. _I'm so sorry_, someone else whispered.

_Please_…

Wide green eyes finally broke away from his body in desperation, seeking out her teacher and permission—she _needed _to—!

_Please let me save him!_

Mismatched eyes full of far too much grief and understanding met hers, and for a moment—a moment—she thought that understanding might mean he _might_…

He shook his head—the slightest of movements, really, but clear as any gesture he could have made.

_It's too late_.

She—

After three years, after finally, _finally _catching up to him and finding him again, after coming _so close_…

She was _too late._

This time, she knew exactly when she began to sob.


	3. Chapter 3

_I'll kill him myself_.

It was such an easy promise to make. Driven by pain and desperation and heartache, seizing the promise to kill him herself seemed like the best way to minimize the rest of the pain. If it couldn't spare her heartache, at least it could spare other's some pain.

At least Naruto wouldn't have to be the one to do it.

It all seemed so simple and easy when she said it. Like saying it could just make it happen and be done with. Like she could kill all the pain in her heart just by making the decision.

Her hands shook, and her heart throbbed with the ache of trying to push onward, to drive the kunai through a vital spot and end it all: the fighting, the pain, the _hope_.

_I thought I could do this_

He turned with a speed that still surprised her, fingers of one hand clamping over her throat, while the others seized her own weapon from her, ready to strike. Perhaps her reaction time was poor for a shinobi…or perhaps a part of her was still unwilling to react. If she reacted, she'd be forced to defend herself. She'd be forced to strike where he was vulnerable, and then she'd be committed to finishing things.

_She couldn't—_

Kakashi-sensei shouted something as Sasuke drew up the kunai to strike, and her teammate paused. She hadn't heard what it was, but whatever it was, it earned a reflection of something _dark _in her teammate's changed eyes. He turned away from her then, moving to throw the poisoned kunai instead—

Out of desperation she struck with a paralytic senbon.

The kunai dropped into the depths of the water, and she thought she saw a look of almost _surprise_ pass over his features. She didn't have time to examine it though, because as soon as he let her go, she had to reach out and grab him, lest he sink into the water.

_She hadn't wanted_…

"Sasuke-kun…" She smoothed his hair away from his face as she settled herself down on her knees.

It was as if he were an entirely different person. After that one moment of surprise, all she could see was _hate_ and _rage_, and such _endless pain_ in his eyes. Her Sasuke-kun hadn't been like that. The one she'd seen only a few months before hadn't been, either. What _happened_? What had changed to turn him from the person who'd had such a gentle heart underneath his hurt and anger?

Kakashi-sensei approached warily, but there was no need. Now that he'd been successfully paralyzed, the anti-chakra properties of the poison she'd used would mean a slow and painful death if he were left alone.

She didn't have a cure.

Her shoulders shook in a sob, and her sensei's hand came to rest on it. It didn't help. Nothing could, not anymore. Not _now_.

_I'll save him from his hatred_.

"I'm sorry…" She shook her head, not even bothering to brush away the tears that seemed never-ending. Her head dropped to his and she shut her eyes. "I'm sorry, I'm _sorry_, _Sasuke-kun_."

This wasn't the way Team 7 was supposed to end.

This wasn't what was supposed to happen.

Her hands trembled with the urge to attempt to heal him…but even if she had, it would be pointless. There wasn't the materials here, and he wouldn't survive to get to those. If she tried, he'd only suffer in agony, and if she succeeded, he'd only fall deeper into hatred.

_She'd only wanted to save him_.

Another kunai, normal this time, what she'd brought in case she'd needed to use the senbon. She lifted it over her head and forced herself to open her eyes. To meet the cold, heartless gaze in the hope that _maybe_, just _maybe_, she could spot some flickering sign that she'd _saved him_.

She just wanted…

She'd only wanted…

For the Sasuke-kun she used to know, if she couldn't save him and couldn't spare him, it was the only way left to avenge him from the darkness.

As she drove the weapon down and felt warmth seep across her gripped fingers, she was sure she heard Naruto scream.

"_I'm so sorry_."


	4. Chapter 4

Sakura was a very well behaved kunoichi on the the Lady Hokage's apprentice, she had an example to hold up and therefore tended to be very good about following all the rules and laws applied to her. It was a rare thing for her to end up indulging in any sort of alcohol due to her age, and thus…few people ever learned that she was a particularly _aggressive drunk_.

She didn't tend to be violent, of course, she wasn't so irresponsible with her strength and skill: allowing herself to wildly flail about and attack people with her skill would result in maiming or death, especially around civilians. Aggression of the sexual sort, however, was a completely different matter. Especially to those she was already attracted to.

Which, really, was a long-winded explanation she didn't bother to offer even a short version of before she shoved her frustrating teammate up against the wall and delivered a biting, forceful kiss.

He deserved it, making her use up her first kiss like this instead of something memorable and potentially magical.

That was how she felt about it, anyway.


	5. Chapter 5

She couldn't kiss him the way she wanted to anymore. She couldn't touch him, or speak to him, or spend a life that she once so desperately wanted to with him. She couldn't protect him or help him, or offer him comfort and company when he curled up in his room and wept for the people he lost.

There were many things she'd wanted to do for and with Sasuke-kun that she'd never be able to do again.

She could watch him now, she could be with him and make sure he was never alone, even when he thought he was. It seemed like an echo of what she'd wanted, a _ghost_ of the wishes she'd once had, and a bitter twist of the way she'd once felt _invisible _to him.

Still, it was something, even though she never really understood why she ended up _here _and not wherever she _should _have gone. It wasn't as if death came with a manual. It wasn't as if she'd researched it extensively, either. She hadn't _planned _anything. She'd _planned _on a long life, she'd _hoped _for that long life to be alongside her friends and Sasuke-kun.

Now…

She had trouble remembering the timeframe surrounding leaping into the path of the jutsu and finding herself trapped at his side and insubstantial. Whether it was the effect of a jutsu, concentrated willpower or…any other thing, she'd probably never have the chance to know now.

There were worse ways to spend a lifetime she'd never get to live, even if it was a bittersweet torment to watch and never touch, to be at his side and never comfort or company, to be 'his' in all practicality and never have 'him' in return.

There were moments she didn't mind it as much as others, though. Such as times like these, where he slept off the exhaustion of training, sprawled carelessly atop blankets with an ease and relaxation she'd once wanted to see him carry in her presence. He seemed nothing like the man who almost burned down the battlefield before her death.

He looked…normal. Or, he did until some sort of a dream or nightmare began to plague him, twisting his features into distress and tangling up the sheets of the bed beneath him. On instinct, she reached out to him. It was the coincidence of a passing dream…but she liked to think somehow her touch reached his unconscious state and offered him some help after all.

Perhaps then she could be his guardian in sleep, if she could be nothing but a silent sentinel in the daytime.

The thought earned a soft, sad smile, as much as one without a body could hold an expression, and she leaned down to hover her lips over his skin. If she tried to touch she'd only pass through as if he were an illusion (instead she was, she supposed, an illusion only she could see come to life), but…if she hovered just at the point of contact, she could _pretend_ to touch him. While he slept and held still, that could be enough.

Maybe in dreams, just maybe, some part of her wishes could seep through to his mind.

She'd like that.


	6. Chapter 6

_"Sasuke Uchiha has died"_

It felt like the world stopped. Were people still moving around somewhere? Still breathing? Had she been holding something, doing something important before the strange ninja had run into the tent and shouted the news so recklessly? As if it were some sort of cause for celebration or gossip?

…Yes, there was noise. Excited chattering, though she didn't care to make out the words. (The word 'traitor' drifted to her ear anyway, but she couldn't motivate herself to react.)

_Sasuke Uchiha has died_

They didn't give an explanation, no elaboration, no follow-up. Just those four words and then they ran off again, presumably to spread the word further.

She didn't experience the sensation of falling.

One moment she stood in a world without gravity and time, and the next she was collapsed on her knees, hands hanging uselessly at her sides, gaze blankly staring at ground she didn't really see.

_Sasuke Uchiha has died_

Just…like that. No warning, no second chances, all the dreams they'd had…all the plans and all of her hope…he'd simply—what…what was she…what was she supposed to do? All of her plans for the future, all of the dreams and the goals she had, they all involved a _complete _Team 7. No matter how far he'd fallen, no matter how hopeless she'd felt when she saw him last, a part of her still believed…there was always hope that _somehow they could—_

Sasuke…

Sasuke was…

Where were her tears? She always cried, so now…why wasn't she crying now? Didn't he deserve someone to weep for his passing, for the end of the Uchiha? Why couldn't she do it? She was just so…she felt so cold and empty and…there wasn't even a point to try to cry.

Sasuke Uchiha was _gone_. He was—

Sasuke Uchiha would never come home again.

Nothing else really seemed to matter.


	7. Chapter 7

He'd been quiet since his return. The kage agreed his contributions to saving the world paired with the offenses that led to his original actions were enough to pardon him his involvement in the Akatsuki, and of course ignore his missing-nin status entirely on the condition he return peacefully to Konoha.

While he wasn't a prisoner, the…scuffle he had with Naruto on the battlefield endeared him to no one in the village, and his goal of becoming hokage seemed a long way off yet. Much of his time seemed to be taken up with whatever it was he was planning to get people to accept him as hokage for.

He would never admit any such thing, but she thought he might also be wrestling with guilt. And…perhaps a touch of loneliness, given the uneasiness the villagers accepted him with. It wasn't terribly unlike the ways they used to treat Naruto.

Of course, he had Naruto who spent much of Sasuke's free time dragging him around the village or out to training. No one was surprised at all, really, that he took Sasuke almost attempting to 'cleanse' him from the world on the battlefield in stride and completely ignored it now. Even if it weren't Sasuke, she suspected Naruto would have reacted the same now, though. Apparently, in taming the nine tails he found a way to overcome and conquer all of the hatred and darkness in his heart.

She'd heard some people calling him the new Sage of Six Paths, despite the lack of the Rinnegan. She wasn't sure yet if that would stick, but…

She did wonder what it would be like to live a life without any hatred, bitterness, or darkness in a heart. Some days she wondered if she'd even be the same person at all without that darkness to nurture inside her. She wondered sometimes if that's what Sasuke spent his days thinking of instead: how to live a life without being consumed by all of the darkness he'd embraced before.

She liked to think it was an answer they could both find if they worked together. Maybe they couldn't do whatever Naruto had done, maybe normal people couldn't banish all the darkness in their hearts the way Naruto could…but it probably wouldn't hurt to strive to emulate the light he shone.

That way, at least, neither one of them would be alone while they tried.

She smiled faintly as she sat down on the bench next to him, and held out a stick of dango. "Hungry? I know it's a little bit sweet, but he insisted on giving me three sticks, and now I can't finish it…so I thought…maybe we could if we worked together."


	8. Chapter 8

She'd thought she was all over it. She watched him self-destruct on the battlefield, burn up under his own power and hate in some last-moment effort to rectify the things he'd done, and she thought…after all the years that followed, she'd finally moved on beyond the point in her life and world that was Sasuke Uchiha.

Sakura Haruno had grown up beyond her childhood dreams and infatuations.

When the jutsu misfired, she'd thought she was going to die, and it was a shock in itself to be standing in the long-abandoned Uchiha compound instead—unharmed by time and Pein's attack.

_"Sasuke dear, you've forgotten your lunch!"_

She'd stumbled when she turned toward the voice and a little blur of energy nearly bounced off of her leg in his rush to turn the corner she stood said something, and she thought it might have been an admonishment for her standing in the street in an awkward place, but she missed whatever he was saying through those wide, dark eyes.

They didn't have all the pain and hate and rage, they weren't even _physically_ the same eyes. They were still the eyes she remembered. The ones a little girl had once stared at and sighed until he'd dropped a basket on her head to get her to stop.

She thought it was a genjutsu for a good long while, but once she managed to confirm reality (using a few particularly creative techniques), she'd been distracted from that point making up plausible excuses to be in the village and coming up with housing, then looking for ways home. She didn't exactly have all that much time to skulk around the Uchiha compound and make friends with the doomed residents.

She tried to tell herself that the Uchiha were a distant memory she'd long ago let go of with Sasuke, anyway. She couldn't change time, couldn't dare. She told herself it was best not to get involved at all.

He was always smiling when she'd see him run by. He was almost always running by chasing after that older brother of his. She didn't mean to get dragged in: it was just she had a spare lunch when he lost his once, and she'd seen where Itachi slipped off to train when Sasuke lost track of him. It was just when she watched him practice with fake and then real shiruken she remembered the youth who'd aced all of the shiruken tests in the Academy. It was just when she delivered something to the Uchiha from the hokage while they were at dinner and Sasuke tried so hard to keep up with his brother's eating, she remembered two young genin getting sick trying to compete over how much they could eat.

It was just when he ran down the street shouting after his brother demanding a piggyback ride, when he'd beam so proudly, chest puffed out when he talked about how cool his brother was, when she caught him practicing his fireball jutsu, she remembered the days of Team 7, and all the dreams and painful memories she'd thought she'd long ago thrown away.

She'd thought she'd moved beyond Sasuke Uchiha and all the pain and happiness he'd always caused her.

"Sakura-chan!" He looked to be smiling so hard it had to hurt, but he showed no sign of it through his manic giggling as he ran up to her. "Sakura-chaaaaaannn guess what? I get to go to the Academy this year!"

Her pen dropped, and she stared blankly down at him for a moment or two. "What?"

"Mother said I get to go the Academy when Summer ends!" She tried to focus on his chatter, but her concentration shifted after those words.

The Academy…was it already that time? It was fuzzy in her memory now, but it couldn't have been long after he joined that he…

She summoned a smile and turned her attention back to him. "You should celebrate! Has your brother come up with anything? You should make sure he does."

Maybe she'd never really moved on at all. Choosing to forget wasn't the same as moving on, it was just…pretending. Maybe she should stop that.


	9. Chapter 9

She was out.

She was out only for a day when it happened, and all of the plans and chances she might have had to change things or save people and Sasuke were lost.

She…didn't know what to do when he showed up so early at her door, tripping over his words and asking questions like she'd already had the time to get the news by the time he got there.

Of course she'd let him inside, resisted the urge to hug him—or touch him at all—without permission after his trust had been shattered by his closest loved one. And she listened of course, but listening wasn't…really…what he needed from her.

She gave him a blanket and a drink to fight off the chill of the rainy day that seeped through the thin walls of her home, and…stalled. Even the questions she had answers for, they weren't easy or nice answers. She wanted to give him comfort, to gather him up in her arms and promise him that everything would be alright, and it was all just a misunderstanding and a mistake.

She wanted to give him back the innocence and gentleness that he'd had torn away from him the night before.

Medical jutsu could ease his exhaustion and soreness, and repair what had been _physically_ disturbed by the harsh genjutsu in his head, but there was nothing it could do for his lost family. It could do nothing for shattered trust and ruined dreams, and it couldn't soothe the turmoil and pain in his mind.

She did try with words, but in some ways she thought they could do even less.

Eventually she sat near to him, open for hugs if he wanted them, but without demanding or encroaching on his space, and spun grisly truths around to try to make them seem _pleasant_. It didn't really work in her opinion, but she tried and she almost believed that it made things a little better.

She didn't think telling him that his brother must have loved him too much to hurt him, and told him to run away to protect himself out of love would carry much weight when he'd actually _hurt _and terrorized Sasuke, but she suggested it anyway. She wasn't sure that it helped all that much.

In the end, when Sasuke was out of questions and hot drink and she was out of answers and fairy tales, she promised him that they'd find the real answers together. They'd find his brother, they'd get the answers to all of it, and somehow…somehow it would all make sense the day they found that out.

She never promised things would be better, she never promised that he'd be happy, or that things would all be alright again.

She thinks, though maybe she's only fooling herself, that helps him. A little, insignificant, tiny amount, at least.

And that…that had to be worth _something_.


	10. Chapter 10

To fall asleep on someone and inadvertently leave himself so vulnerable like this…he must have truly been exhausted after whatever training he'd subjected himself to. She would have scolded him, but it would have required waking him, and she would have felt too guilty to do that. Likewise moving and going about her plans for the day would have woken him, so it was better to just let him nap and hope she could make up the time later in the day.

He was kind of cute, slumped over and asleep against her shoulder like that. They'd been in the middle of conversation—however idle—and he'd simply…dozed off. For a moment or two she panicked that he'd been suffering some injury…but aside from surprisingly low chakra levels, her medical sweep revealed nothing to worry about. He'd simply…been so exhausted he fell asleep mid sentence.

He was pushing himself far, far too hard.

She sighed and ran the tips of her fingers through his hair gently, before she turned and leaned her lips against the top of his head. If she were being very generous, she might actually count that as a kiss.

Maybe.


	11. Chapter 11

She suspects he'd be horrified to find out she's caught him slumped over and passed out over his toys, considering how often he insisted he wasn't tired when he was.

Too bad for him, babysitters catch these kinds of things, and frankly if he slept through his toy dinosaur digging into uncomfortable places, he must have been _exhausted_.

It was only right to scoop the little terror up and carry him over to tuck him into bed (plus Itachi would give her one of his looks of Ultimate Judgment if he found out she let his brother pass out and sleep without blankets.

Again.

Surprisingly, the tiny child managed not to stir with all that movement and arrangement, and that just confirmed her suspicions about how _deeply _he was in denial about his ability to skimp on sleep.

She sighed softly at the young Sasuke, and then leaned down to (quickly, like a ninja) peck his forehead lightly.

At least he was dedicated.


	12. Chapter 12

…She didn't know what to do.

She…

Why…

Why hadn't she known? Why hadn't she noticed? How had she gotten so _swept up_? She was—so…so concentrated trying to save Naruto, fighting Madara, she missed…

This was her fault.

If she'd been stronger, if she'd been better, if she'd been faster at _any part _of it, maybe…

Maybe she would have found him in time.

Maybe he'd be here.

Maybe she'd have something she could do other than watch as Naruto raged and screamed and shook a body too long gone of life for anyone to save.

She didn't do anything, because there wasn't anything she could do to help, so why should she do…_anything_?

She fell to her knees, silent, staring blankly at the pair of friends—at the one teammate she had left.

They'd tried so hard….

They'd spent…so many years…

And it was all

_for nothing_.


	13. Chapter 13

It was funny, really. She'd never thought of this Sasuke as a person she'd willingly _die _for. Many times she thought, if he were in danger or dying, she'd just go ahead and let him. She didn't like him, he was always playing all the girls in the village, and…sometimes most importantly…he'd almost played _her_.

Yet, when she saw the jutsu coming, she didn't even think, she just…ran. There wasn't even time to move him, so there certainly wasn't time for conflicted thoughts.

She curled around him instinctively, shielding him with her body and shuddering with the impact of the water arrows.

She felt dazed. Vital points had been crushed, she only had moments until the water arrow-tips would explode inside her and kill her.

His face wasn't so bad to look up at as the last thing she'd ever see. At least there was that.

"Sasu…ke…."

She never got to hear whatever he was going to say in response.

It was probably best.


	14. Chapter 14

Hnagh—!

OKAY. Review: On one hand, her lip is cut from her teeth, this isn't how she planned on having her first kiss, and it really doesn't seem like it should count. On the other: _Her first kiss was with Sasuke Uchiha_. (What was up with him crashing in to people and kissing them, anyway?)

It's not that she froze, because she's kind of pinned to the ground. She did, however, stare up at him with really quite wide-open eyes. And dark red cheeks.

Should she ask now or later if they're counting that?


	15. Chapter 15

_Adffkk—_

She's not built for this. She was not prepared for this.

She can't even muster up indignation that he'd left the door unlocked and yet expected privacy because _Sasuke. is. naked. in front of her._

She may stare a good deal longer than necessary out of a lack of thought processing power, but…eventually she squeaks in a pitch higher than she previously realized she could, and flees.


	16. Chapter 16

There's irony in this, she thinks. Or justice, or karma. She's not sure. It's not that it's hard to think, it's just that she doesn't know. But there's a lot of things she doesn't know. Didn't. Might not ever know.

It's not the first time she's been stabbed through with a sword. It's the first time that sword was made of lightning, and it's the first time the one who did it was Sasuke.

She stared down at the glowing, pulsing blade that jutted out of her chest. She can tell from here that he'd gone for vital spots, points she can't heal on herself in time before she'll pass out, and then…

It fades away, rather than draws out of her, and she can feel the sand in her hourglass pouring out like through a cracked open jar. There's no point in wasting time on feeling betrayed, or wondering why. There's no time to waste on trying to save herself, either.

She turned her head, steadying her shaky vision on the specter of the man she'd spent so very long dreaming of, summoned her chakra to her fists, and launched herself at him with all the draining strength she had left.

It was all she had time left to do.


	17. Chapter 17

It's not common to catch him lounging, particularly with enough contentment and relaxation that he was approachable and would remain that way.

She'd like to say she had something to do with his current lethargic mood, but she wasn't about to take the credit outright. That would be riling him up a little.

She leaned over where he was lounging (easily, since she had been lying next to him before then) and pressed a light kiss to his expose belly button, where his shirt had ridden up some.


	18. Chapter 18

When she was young she had an odd idea that kissing Sasuke would be some sort of sweet and cute thing. A pure kiss of true love or something like that.

She was a bit of a child then, she supposed. Kissing Sasuke wasn't tender or gentle in any conventional sort of way. It was usually quite the opposite, rough, violent, and full of biting and nipping.

Sometimes he did the biting, sometimes it was the bruising kind that medical chakra rescued them from uncomfortable looks at their mouths later on.

At the moment though, it was mostly teeth and tongue along his jaw, nipping hard enough to leave red marks that faded on their own, determined to earn difficult-to-receive shivers and shudders from the violent Sasuke.


	19. Chapter 19

_A soft laugh._

"How do I feel about you? Do you really need to ask, Sasuke-kun? I feel…I feel _angry_. And hurt, too. You left the village…you abandoned Naruto and I and…you wouldn't let me come with you. Even if you had to pursue your revenge, you wouldn't let me come with and help you and…even though I understand why now, it doesn't make it hurt any less that you'd try so hard to sever bonds I treasured so much.

I'm hurt and angry that you…that after three years, after you got your revenge you wouldn't come _home_. I'm…I'm _confused_ that you'd join the Akatsuki, that you'd betray the village and start hurting people that had nothing to do with what you brother did, and that you _still wouldn't talk to us_.

I'm…scared. I'm afraid of that person I saw the last time we met, afraid that all the things that I loved about you might be gone and consumed by that darkness you embraced, that I might have lost the Sasuke-kun we spent so long trying to find. I'm…I'm frightened that you'll fight Naruto after all, and when it's all done I'll be alone and both of you will be gone. I don't know…what I'll do when you're gone and everything we spent so long living for is lost.

I wonder…if I'll understand…what Madara meant and wants for the world if that happens, because…because despite it all, even though I shouldn't and I _tried _to make it stop…I still love you, Sasuke-kun. The real you, the one I know is buried somewhere deep inside all the pain and hate and loneliness, the one I can still feel my bond to, still connecting us.

I…I still love you, and I think…what makes me most afraid about that, is how alone I'm going to feel for the rest of my life if you're gone."


	20. Chapter 20

She still hadn't gotten the hang of this world they were trapped in, waiting for the moon to just…decide to go red so they could escape. Still, Naruto seemed so happy living a life with his parents while they waited that she tended to try to keep to herself instead of disturbing him and bringing him down with her thoughts.

She'd kept away from Sasuke too, since she found out what this one was like. It was too good to be true in a world created by Madara that Sasuke might be himself, like Naruto's parents, and also home. Maybe that said something about whether he could ever be himself and in the village…but she chose not to think about it, instead she avoided _him_, too.

Therefore, she's not really sure why she stopped when she saw him asleep on a bench outside. Why would he be asleep outside and not in the compound somewhere? Had he been waiting for someone? No, not likely, who would stand up Sasuke Uchiha, even if he _was _such a shameless player.

She reached out to touch his hair gently as he slept, and shook her head. "You can't even keep that promise to be by my side here, can you?" When she'd known it was a genjutsu the whole time, she probably should have never allowed herself to be flattered or think about the promise a false-Sasuke made, and yet…

She'd really wanted to hear him say something like that, once upon a time.

She sighed after a moment and leaned down swiftly to place a gentle kiss to the bridge of his nose. "No matter what world we're in…you'll always break my heart, won't you…Sasuke-kun?"


	21. Chapter 21

It's not a conscious gesture, it's really just because she's so used to keeping her hands busy that once she successfully gets an arm around his shoulders while they watch the movie she can't quite…keep still. It's mostly just fidgeting at first, until she realizes consciously that she's touching skin. That would be the actual point she tries stroking her thumb along his ear.

She's still…never really sure what to do with her hand, but as long as he won't complain about the gentle touches that are _almost _absent enough to be excused as unconscious movements…she's probably going to continue to try to get away with them.


	22. Chapter 22

Vanishing like that hadn't…been the plan. Most things over the past five years hadn't been according to plan, really. It seemed like every time she was almost successful something would come up and interfere or set everything pinwheeling off out of control. She'd almost given up on the idea that she could ever give up being Mebuki Nohara and get home again. She almost couldn't believe she'd actually _made _it back without something going wrong and dragging her back undercover right when she got to the gates of Konoha.

She felt a little like she was walking through one of the many dreams she'd had over the years, she was a little afraid of making sudden moves or speaking too loudly and waking herself up out of it. Five years…felt like so much longer away from home and all the people that she loved.

Five years and now she was the one standing in front of Sasuke's house, hoping to pretend the last few years could be discarded as a bad dream that had finally ended with the opening door.

Of course it would be Sasuke that she'd go to first.

She wanted to answer his question—as much as she could, considering the nature of her mission—but seeing him real and solid standing there, having him see her and being able to speak to him for once…

She couldn't think of what to say.

She watched him helplessly for a few moments, until he finally pulled her into the hug. The movement was enough, if not to snap her out of the dream-like sense, to build momentum, and her own arms came up to seize around him fingers digging into his shirt.

She'd made it home.

She muffled a sob in his shirt, and shook her head.

_She was finally home_.


	23. Chapter 23

It's amazing the range of emotion Sasuke could manage while still wearing that bizarrely cheerful smile (or variations of it). She'd come to the conclusion a little while back that he'd been caught by some sort of jutsu (ninjutsu, she presumed, as he would have overwhelmed any genjutsu by now) and that explained why it was stuck like that.

While he was being stubborn, though, there wasn't much she could do to help him.

It was actually kind of cute, the smile he wore when he wasn't projecting murderous intent at anyone who he caught looking at him. So, basically it was whenever she happened to look at him while he was alone.

At some point, she noticed a lack of it while they were sitting together drinking tea. She wondered if she should be flattered by that or not. He still didn't ask or allow for the possibility of her freeing him from the jutsu, but she kept an eye on him for signs of injury all the same.

Ultimately, that was her explanation why, when they were sitting in a secluded place without much conversation (which was simply normal when sitting with him, as he tended not to speak much without purpose anyway), she leaned in and placed a light kiss to the corner of his lips.

With the kiss was healing chakra. Nothing that could fix him without knowing what was wrong…but it would soothe the muscles that had been forced to hold his expression like that so long. "…You looked…sore."


	24. Chapter 24

_They won_.

They won. They won, they _survived_.

It was all over, the war, the Akatsuki, the constant specter of death over all of their friends, family, and loved ones…and the splintering of Team 7. It was like a dream she'd never quite managed to believe all in one dream at once.

Some people had taken to cheering, many Naruto's name, some to shouting and hollering—a few seemed to be dancing—and many she saw had broken down into tears of relief or disbelief.

She had her own way of dealing with it.

Sasuke-kun stood alone, watching the spot where the last of the Edo Tensei'd hokage had vanished, mind working over in endless thoughts she couldn't hope to guess. For once, she wouldn't even try. Instead, she simply grabbed him by the torn over-sized lapels of his Uchiha jacket and yanked him forward, off balance and into her arms

When better to kiss the person she loved without reservation, than during the celebrations of the end of a war?


	25. Chapter 25

This wasn't how she expected it at all. Really, over the past ten years she should have learned to stop 'expecting' things at all, because they never went the way she expected. Not the way Sasuke returned, not the end of the reign of the Fifth, and not…not Naruto.

The fact that her first kiss would be with Sasuke should have been the surprising part with that record, really. The fact that it differed from how she expected it to go down was the more normal and 'expected' part of it, and yet she still couldn't help a moment of reflection on the matter. It surely wasn't as special a romantic moment as she'd thought it would be.

Still, a ninja's life would be rather short if that ninja couldn't adapt. This wasn't nearly as grave a situation, but it probably applied anyway. If he was smart (and she usually felt he was) he'd adapt as quickly as she did when she pushed him abruptly into a nearby alley and pulled him down into a kiss.

If he didn't flail or react too badly, then they could escape their pursuers by the shinobi automatically discounting the hokage and the chief medic of the village as two lovestruck nin in an alleyway. It wasn't that she was shirking work, it was that no one really wanted to have _Ibiki and Anko _be the ones to drag them anywhere, even important appointments.

Actually…perhaps_ especially_ important appointments.


	26. Chapter 26

"Sasuke-kun…" She smiled faintly and then walked up to wrap her arms around the young Uchiha. It was a rare gesture that she allowed herself, and much gentler than the ones she'd given him before…but this was a different case. He wasn't back from the dead or near-death, and she wasn't desperately clinging to a Sasuke fading before her eyes.

No, he'd come home…_really _come home, and she could finally believe he'd stay for good this time. That sort of thing called for a special sort of reaction, and a hug gentle enough not to break the moment seemed the appropriate reaction. "I _missed you_."


	27. Chapter 27

There were so many things she'd gone over in her head over the years—so many things she wanted to say to him when she saw him. She'd wanted to scream at him, to forgive him, to ask him_ why_, why those words, why couldn't he take her with him, why did he wait so long to come home? She wanted to make him hurt as much as he made her hurt, to make him suffer the loneliness she did because of him, and she wanted to make it all _better _and show him this was where his home and family was.

She'd had three years to play out the ways she'd react once they finally brought him home, or what would happen if he suddenly showed up on his own in the night like he left, and then he went and ruined all of those scenarios. She shouldn't have been surprised at all when he showed up the way he did, right in the middle of battle when she could do _none _of what she'd wanted to.

The battle was finally over now, they'd secured the future with the help of the past and present at once, and in the process gotten back what was most precious to all of them.

The battlefield was still a mess now, with people slowly picking themselves back up from the chaos, working through their collective disbelief. Naruto and Hinata were a short distance away, he on his knees and she holding him tightly, helping him through watching his father vanish into dust.

Sasuke…Sasuke stood between where she stood and Naruto knelt, staring dispassionately at the point where Obito and the Juubi had vanished into.

She realized that she'd spoken his name only when his gaze shifted from that spot to her, and she thought—through that dispassionate guise—his expression might have softened with…something. Relief, curiosity, apology?

She wasn't sure.

Before she quite processed it, her feet began to propel her forward. A few of her steps were little more than stumbling, and then, as she became aware of her movement, she broke into a run, charging across the small distance and flinging herself into his arms. "_Sasuke!_" Her voice was little more than a choked sob, as she curled around him, burying her face into his chest.

Everything she'd wanted to say, everything she'd planned, all the things she'd wanted him to feel and to know and to do, all of it melted away into those broken sobs instead.

_He'd finally come home_.

_He'd come home_.

He didn't say anything—of course not—not an apology, nor an explanation, nothing. Still, his arms curled around her as well, and after a moment she felt him bury his face in her hair and draw an unsteady breath.

Maybe that wasn't such a terrible answer to a question that never got to be asked.


End file.
